Listening by Proxy!

[Purité Audio]

I had a novel experience this afternoon when an extremely nice guy, Harrison came to visit to make a comparison between the Dutch&Dutch 8Cs and the Sigberg ‘Mantas’, but he was there at the behest of his friend and another really nice chap who lives in the US so listening by proxy.
I don’t think that has ever happened before, quite a number of potential customers bring along friends but none that I can recollect who live four thousand miles away.
Stupidly I didn’t take a photograph, but I moved the SBS.1s and slid the 8Cs back into their positions flanking the Mantas.
Creating a really valid comparison between two sets of similarly capable loudspeakers is not easy!

 

[BlackTalon]

In all honesty, I wish you were my next door neighbor.

 

[617]

The mantas look quite petite next to the 8c.

 

[EAXAE]

The mantas look quite petite next to the 8c.

Those aren't Mantas but SBS.1s. Mantas are much more menacing and considerable!

 

[fredoamigo]

Those aren't Mantas but SBS.1s. Mantas are much more menacing and considerable!

Thank you ... because I had thought the same thing as 617 .... it's also the first time I've seen such a spring-loaded support for 8Cs. it's anti-sysmic

 

[Purité Audio]

The tables under the 8Cs are Deni Mesanovic’s isolation tables, I believe they are a ‘proper’ design, springs/gaskets with the correct loading.
I just wanted to experiment with an actual ‘isolation’ device rather than the ‘cup and ball’ designs which are ubiquitous and useless.
I haven’t found they make the slightest difference to the sound with any speakers I have used them with, but they do bring the 8Cs tweeter up to ear height.
These are the Mantas, well one of them.

 

[Chr1]

If I win the lottery, I will be buying all of these wonderful speakers.
Love the Mantas particularly. They do look menacing. In such a good way. Lovely.

 

[Purité Audio]

They look much more docile with grills in place,

 

[fredoamigo]

As I know the chair very well, I can now imagine their sizes very well, and it's still bigger than the 8C !
It's a pity that there are no people in France like you to listen to small-diffusion SOTA speakers

 

[sigbergaudio]

(All dimensions in cm, Width*Height*Depth)

• SBS.1: 19x41x23
• 8C: 28x48x38
• Manta: 36x60x35

 

[sigbergaudio]

Manta and SBS in the same picture:

 

[Count Arthur]

I like the Mantas on those stands; reminiscent of some 70s JBL and Yamaha speakers.

Can the tilt angle be adjusted?

 

[Purité Audio]

No, not at the moment, but I am pretty sure a specific requirement. could be accommodated, would the current design be too laid back ( Mantas don’t really do laid back) .
Keith

 

[sigbergaudio]

I like the Mantas on those stands; reminiscent of some 70s JBL and Yamaha speakers.

Can the tilt angle be adjusted?

No, but I guess in theory you could do that with some wedges under the speakers. What would you like to achieve by enabling that? The current angle is 4 degrees. If you'd like slightly more or less treble, there are user configurable presets that do that at the press of a button on the back of the speaker.

 

[Keith_W]

Can you please remind us what is the function of the cutouts which look like gills on the front and side of the speaker? To deliver a cardioid pattern?

 

[Purité Audio]

Yes, the 8Cs use a similar system, the actual enclosure is sealed box design.
Keith

 

[sigbergaudio]

Can you please remind us what is the function of the cutouts which look like gills on the front and side of the speaker? To deliver a cardioid pattern?

The ones on the sides are to create the cardioid pattern.

The ones on each side of the coax (on the baffle) is to fool the midrange into thinking the baffle is more narrow than it is, and disrupting off-axis reflections. The result is a more even dispersion pattern in the midrange area, so more even sound off-axis.